Blood and Bullets
by Sol Winterfang71
Summary: Pandora. People used to call it a ball of dust sugar-coated in death and violence. Me? I call it 'home'. I was born just days after my parents arrived here, but I was always a bit...different. I grew up hearing stories about the Vault, but it didn't interest me. Instead, I'm more interested in something far more mysterious...Myself. Just what is my purpose here? Rated M.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Borderlands.

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Blood and Bullets

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Chapter One

As the silent night drew on and Moon shifted higher into the serene cloudless sky, the terrain grew dark and menacing. For the prey. In regards to the hunter of said prey, however, he paid no heed to the biting cold that ravaged the frozen tundra of the Southern Shelf. He was focused solely on bringing down the creature that alluded him. As silent as the night that wreathed him, the hunter raced through the field of icy crags and snow banks, weaving through the canyon-like gaps in the frosted over rocky terrain with nary a sound despite the bulk of his attire and equipment. Catching sight of his prey for only a moment, terrified and disoriented, he quickly moved for a better position, trying to close the two-hundred meter gap between them as he swiftly and silently marched up a snowy slope of rock that led to what had possibly been an outpost of some sort in the past due to the delapitated ruins of what had once been shelter from the constant blizzards and arctic chill.

Narrowing his eyes after spotting his prey adjusting his bearings, he leapt from his position and raced across the top of a small plateau of ice, rock, and snow, his chosen weapons grasped in his hands in reverse grips; they were special short-swords crafted from a collection of old artefacts he had uncovered in an old temple of some sort, each one having been melted down and mixed in with the special metals used to craft his blades. They bore a two-foot long primary blade that curved slightly much like the katanas of old times while a shorter, one-foot long secondary blade stood directly in front of it, a short four-inch long curved blade protruding from the base of the curved handles. The two main blades were primarily a dark grey/black trimmed with a polished silver edge while the dagger-blades on the pommels were a solid polished silver color, the six-inch long handles bound tightly in black leather.

"Hn!" Grunting with effort, the vigilant hunter lunged from the ledge and soared over the broad gap with his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms extended out to either side in the likeness of wings, his blades stabbing towards one another behind him and reflecting a thin moonbeam ray along its glistening edge. Extending his legs as he drew closer to the surface of another plateau, his booted feet made contact and he instantly curled into a shoulder roll, only to spring back to his feet without pause and continue in his marathon run.

His target was a Bandit that went by the name of Rauth, leader of the Iron Hands. They were called such due to the one primary requirement to join; their left hand and forearm had to be replaced with a metal prosthetic. From there, most of them had taken to continuing their augmetic surgeries, replacing bones and some organs with mechanical replacements of surprisingly high quality. However, it was of no more importance now than the air in his lungs; the Iron Hands were no more, leaving only Rauth and the hunter to wage war with one another.

Knowing from experience that the Iron Hands' shields and augmentations were very vulnerable to Shock-based weaponry, the hunter tightened his grip and focused his mind on the raw, uncontrollable power of pure lightning, causing his tri-bladed swords to crackle to life with electricity. Leaping from the very end of the plateau, the hunter descended upon his prey, the Bandit spotting the shadow blotting out the Moon's light, but it was already too late. Encountering little to no resistance, the electrified blades pierced the man's energy shield, stabbing into his shoulders where they met the base of his neck, the primary blades gliding through his flesh behind his collar bones while the secondary blades passed in front of them, the serated edges lining the dips between them grinding into the bone and locking it in place.

Even before he could scream, electricity surged through Rauth's body, frying him from the inside-out. The hunter remained unaffected due to his own powerful shield, which he had crafted himself from a variety of different units to give it an incredibly high resistance to all elements, but not so much to non-elemental damage. As the body was scorched beyond recognition, the hunter planted his foot on the corpse between its smoking shoulders at the base of the neck before kicking the body, freeing his swords and allowing him to sheath them behind his waist with the handles sticking out from behind either hip.

"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't taken flight of foot..." The hunter whispered quietly as he stared down at the body with an apathetic gaze, idly picking out gaps in charred flesh that revealed bone and bits of shriveled up internal organs. Turning around, the hunter calmly stalked away, soundless and without a trace of ever being there, his foot prints gradually disappearing as the wind tore at them and snow continued to fall. Stepping out from behind the dark abyssal shadows of a large rocky outcropping and into the pale illuminating rays of the Full Moon's light, the hunter was finally revealed, although no one was present to witness.

Standing at 6'1", the man held a lean muscular build, perfectly balancing strength and agility. He was dressed in baggy black and dark grey camouflage pants tucked into black knee-high steel-toe combat boots, a black leather belt used to hold them up, a black skin-tight long-sleeve turtleneck, black fingerless gloves on his hands, a black cloth face mask pulled up over his nose with pitch black metal armoring it from his nose down to his chin and stretching from cheek bone to cheek bone with an air filtration system built into the object, a set of pitch black metal body armor strapped over his torso with a thick raised collar armoring the sides and back of his neck while a black hood was attached to the collar and pulled up over his head to hide his hair, a curtain of black cloth hanging from the belt-loops of his pants by black metal rings that formed an ankle-length 'skirt' around his legs while shrouding the black metal sheaths for his swords, a pair of solid black storage devices mounted to his body armor just below his rib cage with both objects set at an angle, a large blade hunting knife strapped to the side of either thigh, a cluster of four grenades hanging from either of his hips, a pair of black-framed goggles placed over his eyes with crimson-tinted lenses, and a pair of solid black Vladov non-elemental TMPs holstered behind his lower back that bore a larger ammo capacity than any other Vladov machine pistol and a slightly longer barrel.

"Hm?" He muttered, noticing the quiet sound coming from his ECHO device as it attempted to notify him of an incoming call. "What?"

_"Ah, as unfriendly as ever, hm?"_ A woman answered back, her voice naturally seductive and alluring. He didn't need to see her face to see the smirk playing across her lips. _"Don't worry, I'll keep it short. To put it simply, I have a friend that is in need of a permanent partner to work with. I'd do it, but I'm not of much use these days. They said they needed someone that could, in their words, 'take the heat and stay ice-cold'. I won't bore you with the details, but if you're interested, you know where to find me."_

"..." He simply narrowed his eyes slightly as the call was disconnected. Calmly staring up at the sky for a moment to gather his thoughts, he continued on his treck through the tundra back to his truck. Normally, he wouldn't bother considering the woman's offer the first time, let alone give it a second thought, but he had found it increasingly difficult to acquire jobs that best fit his skill-set and paid enough money with him being a solo-operating mercenary/bounty hunter.

Perhaps with a partner, he would be able to support himself better. It would also give him a better chance of surviving heavy resistance with the two of them watching each other's backs. However, the reputation of his 'partner' would affect the available jobs; low reputation would provide few decent jobs while a high reputation would allow for more high-paying jobs, but at the cost of painting a target on his back. There was also the risk of his possible comrade being untrustworthy, meaning the chances of him being shot in the back went up.

"Geez...Why is everything so damn complicated these days?" He grumbled under his breath as he reached his 'baby'; a Bandit Technical. Modified, of course. It was painted a black and dark grey camouflage, it bore heavier armor than normal with an engine three-times as strong as normal, a far more durable suspension system, a double-barreled machine gun mounted to either side of the hood, armored butterfly doors set on either side of the vehicle with seating for three passengers along side a driver and gunner, a triple-barreled rocket launcher mounted to the turret, a row of six lights mounted to the roof just above the 'windshield' of armored slates instead of glass, and the bumpers also having been reinforced with a large plow-like bumper guard mounted to the front. The entire vehicle was sitting a full foot higher off the ground due to the customized suspension system he had outfitted it with, the chassis was broader and longer than normal, and there were a number of hidden gadgets stored within the heavily armored husk of metal.

All in all, his Technical was best classified as a tank or APC...

Reaching up and opening the driver-side door, he climbed in and slammed the door shut behind him. Pulling out his keys from his pocket, he started his truck, the engine roaring to life before settling into a deep, savage growl. Grabbing the end of the gear shift, he put the truck in reverse and backed up for a moment, only to shift back into first gear and drive off down the deep crevice set between two glacial monuments of ice-coated stone. As he drove, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes with one hand and pulled his mask down with the other, using his left knee to keep the steering wheel from moving on its own while he lit up one of his 'death sticks'. That was when he caught a blur of color in the corner of his right eye, prompting him to glance down at the old photo taped to the dash just above the radio.

"..." His eyes grew cold and his facial expression became grim as he used his left hand to grip the steering wheel again. Using his right, he gently gripped a corner of the photo before pulling it free of the dashboard and reaching over to open the glove compartment, stashing the picture away before slamming the compartment closed. Why did he keep torturing himself over her? It had been ten years since that night. She was gone and there was nothing he could do about it.

"...Damn it...Why can't people leave me alone?" He growled quietly as he shifted into second gear and answered his ECHO for the second time, not even bothering to check the number this time. "What?!"

_"Don't use that tone with me, brat!"_ A woman snarled back over the line, making him wince slightly. What the hell was it with him and having so many psychopathic old hags in his life? Then again, the woman _had_ been the one to pull his ass out of the fire on a few occassions; it had even been a literal thing at one time. _"You better start showing me some fucking respect, you little shit!"_

"Geez...Sorry." The man apologized a bit cautiously and out of mild confusion. It wasn't his fault that he was irritated; Rauth was the idiot that tried to run away. "So, what was it that you wanted, Tsunade?"

_"You know damn well what I want."_ Tsunade spoke calmly, yet coldly. He winced again, glancing out the back window at the unmarked wooden crate strapped down in the bed of his truck. The damn thing barely fit in there, but he had managed. Somehow. How the hell did she know it was him that took it, anyways? _"You're an idiot, you know that? Apart from you, who else would use a god damned Tediore rifle, of all things in the world, to short out the electrical circuits to an industrial power generator just to disable a single alarm system?"_

Another wince. Honestly, he would have used a paper clip or a bobby pin or something, but he didn't have anything else on him. All he had was an old Tediore that had somehow been left in his storage unit from a past job. He really should learn to think inside the box. Or was it think _outside_ the box? Either way, he got caught and he now had an angry old lady hounding him.

And he needed to empty his storage unit more thoroughly. He still couldn't figure out how that damn thing got in there...

"Um...Sorry?" He offered with uncertainty, only to be answered by the nearly unintelligible howling of a pissed off woman that was _at least_ in her mid-sixties by now; strangely enough, she only looked to be in her early to mid-fourties. Flinching back at the volume as he plucked the tiny speaker from his left ear, he eyed it warily as Tsunade continued to scream into the reciever from her end. He only caught a few of the words amongst the myriad of obscenities, but even then, he hoped he never ran into her again. At least he could just hang up on her whenever she started bitching at him again. Speaking of which...

_Click!_

"Phew..." He sighed heavily with relief while stuffing the ear-bud back into his ear, taking a drag of his nearly forgotten cigarette before focusing back on the task at hand. Exhaling and sighing out a lungful of smoke, Uzumaki Naruto, bounty hunter, slouched slightly in the driver seat, letting his left arm rest against the driver side door while his right arm was draped along the top of the pitifully padded bench that made up the Technical's driver and front-passenger side seats, his cigarette held between his lips lazily. "Joy...Now to suffer through another five-hour drive through the Maze of Bullshit back to town..."

He hated long boring drives...

**xXx**

Taking a long drag of his cigarette and filling his lungs with the acrid smoke, he slowly exhaled as he stared up at the ceiling from his spot at a table in the far corner of the bar, his feet kicked up on another chair and his arms draped over two more that he set on either side of him. He had kept his hood down along with his mask and goggles left to hang around his neck, leaving his face and head completely visible. Taking a drag of his cigarette before ashing it, Naruto mentally complained about the piss-poor lighting of the 'Slug-Spitter' bar in Sanctuary, which was starting to give him a tiny headache.

His hair was a golden blonde styled into an undershave that reached down to his waist in a thin braid, his chin adorned with a touch of blonde stubble. His skin was tanned from constantly being out in the sun, and although it was impossible to see due to his choice in clothing, his body was littered with dozens, if not hundreds, of scars from a great many different methods of injury. His eyes, however, unsettled many people. Once full of life and boundless energy, his sapphire blue eyes were now cold and frosted over with the darkness in his heart; many referred to them as the 'eyes of Death'. Nothing escaped his notice, these days. He didn't even have to try to pay attention to know exactly what was happening around him.

That's how he knew he had a guy standing behind him with a Jakobs revolver aimed at the back of his head...

_Ka-chik!_

_Blam-Blam-Blam!_

"ARRGH! Fuck! My leg!" The man cried out as he fell to the ground, clutching his left leg that now bore three new holes in it. Everyone in the bar froze and went silent as they glanced back at the blonde. His right hand grasped his left machine pistol and sat just below his left arm, the barrel still smoking from the three-shot burst. Inhaling another lungful of smoke from his cigarette without moving, he continued to stare up at the ceiling, ignoring the wounded man's screams of pain. Exhaling with a sigh, he closed his eyes and reluctantly pulled himself to his feet, slipping his TMP back into the custom-made mag-lock holster he had made for both of his machine pistols. Turning around and walking over to the wounded man, he picked up the fallen revolver with his right hand and grabbed the poor bastard by the back of his shirt with his left hand and dragged him out of the bar, still ignoring his exclamations of pain and curses.

"Get lost, dumbass." He muttered coldly while letting the man go and turning around to head back in. Sitting back down where he had been a moment ago, he plucked his cigarette from his lips and knocked the ashes off over an ash tray before taking one last drag and putting it out. Slipping back into his previous position, he reached over and grabbed his beer, taking a couple sips before setting it back down. Just as he lit another cigarette, someone sat down in the chair to his right, prompting him to cock an eye brow curiously and glance at them, only for his eyes to widen slightly.

She was a beautiful woman, probably about his age, with light colored blemish-free skin and deep blue hair cut short in the back that gradually tapered down to being chin-length in the front, her eyes a dazzling cerulean with two bright blue dots under her left eye while a small dark beauty mark sat on her right cheek bone. It wasn't her beauty that caught him off guard, though; she was a Siren, made obvious by the pastel blue tattoos that covered her entire left arm. She was clad in a skin-tight black and yellow leotard that bore only a full-length right sleeve, a black glove on her right hand, a pair of baggy black pants that hung loose on her broad hips with a dark brown and black leather belt looped through it to hold her pants up, a thick book hanging from a belt at her left hip with the familiar seal of the Vault on its cover, and a Maliwan pistol strapped to her right thigh. Before she could even say a word, the blonde had already decided to voice his thoughts.

"What can I do for a 'powerful' Siren such as yourself?" Naruto mumbled out a bit sarcastically as he took a drink of his beer and set it back down on the table, only to stick his cigarette back in his mouth and stare up at the ceiling.

"I got a phone call from a friend of mine yesterday. She said to look for, in her own words, 'a cold-blooded heartless bastard without a shred of respect for others and an obsession with the color Black'." The Siren answered, making Naruto smirk and, in turn, making the Siren smirk as well.

"Aw, so she _does_ care. How touching." He muttered sharply, rolling his eyes as he sat up and ran his left hand over his hair, sighing. "Let me guess; You're Maya, the one I'm supposed to be working with from now on. Right?"

"Yes. That would make you Uzumaki Naruto." Maya stated, only for Naruto to finish his beer and stand up, walking away without another word. Getting up and following after him, Maya was confused and annoyed with the blonde's behavior. Then again, Lilith _had_ warned her that he wasn't exactly a 'gentleman', to put it lightly. "Hey, where are you going?"

"What's it matter to you?" Naruto grumbled, flicking his cigarette off to the side as he headed for Sanctuary's main gates, his Technical parked off to the side. Reaching the vehicle and opening the door, Naruto paused for a moment and sighed heavily. Turning around, he faced Maya and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back against his vehicle. "Look, Lady. I'm not going to suger-coat it for you. I don't _want_ a partner. It would be nice to have one, but I can do just fine without one. Now, I've got a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in, so if you don't mind, I suggest you make your choice in the next five minutes before I make it for you; tag along and stay out of my way or stay here and look for someone else. Either one doesn't matter to me."

"You really don't care about anyone, do you?" Maya asked sharply while narrowing her eyes, crossing her arms as Naruto started climbing back into his truck. She watched as he suddenly froze, his eyes locked on the dashboard in front of him as the empty coldness in them shimmered faintly with lost emotion, only for them freeze back into their previous state of apathy.

"That tends to happen when you have nothing left to live for..." He muttered quietly under his breath, but Maya still heard him. Without another word, he pulled his mask back up and placed his goggles over his eyes before coiling his braid around his neck and shoulders, flipping his hood up over his head a moment later. Turning on the massive behemoth of a vehicle, Naruto reached up and grabbed the handle to his door, pulling it down and slamming it shut. When he glanced out through the narrow gaps between the armor slats on the door, he found Maya still standing there and figured she had chosen not to come along or something.

"Figures...Who wants to go galovanting across the wastelands with an asshole like me?" Naruto grumbled to himself as he put the truck in reverse before shifting back into first gear and starting to turn the truck around. That was when he heard the passenger side door open up, causing him to glance over just as Maya pulled the door down and slammed it shut, only to reach down and flip a metal lever over, locking it in place. Facing him, Maya glared at him slightly, but it was softened by the faint smirk on her lips.

"Do you know how hard it is to find a partner without them freaking out about me being a Siren? Even my old friends were unsettled by it." Maya commented, unknowing of the smirk forming on Naruto's face. As the gate opened, Naruto looked forward again, gripping the steering wheel with both hands.

"Seat belt." He muttered, getting a look of confusion from Maya. "I suggest you put your seat belt on."

"But...you don't have any." Maya responded hesitantly. Naruto already knew that, but he just couldn't resist hazing his new partner. Slowly looking over at her, he grinned fiendishly behind his armored mask.

"Well, ain't that a damn shame..." Naruto replied sarcastically before suddenly slamming on the gas, swiftly throwing the truck into second gear as the front tires rose up off the ground as all four wheels spun, the truck lurching forward savagely. Letting out a startled cry as she braced herself, Maya felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment as Naruto started laughing, driving his truck through the artic tundra like an expert mad-man. When he glanced at her and saw her look, he only laughed even harder. Cheeks burning hotter, Maya's eyes started glowing a pale blue-white along with her tattoos. Noticing the light, he glanced over at her and suddenly paled. "Uh-oh..."

_WHAM!_

**xXx**

"Oww..." Naruto whined in complaint as he held a handful of snow to the side of his face, where Maya's energy covered fist had impacted with his cheek. His other hand held another handful of snow, which was held to the other side of his head near the top, having hit his head on the bare metal framework of his Technical's cab. Not too far away from him was a small fire, the two having taken shelter in a cave for the night due to a blizzard that now raged outside.

"Hey, Lilith. It's Maya." The younger Siren greeted, having called her friend up in an effort to gather a bit more information on her new partner.

_"How's it going? He hasn't tried anything, has he?"_ Lilith growled out over the communicator, knowing of the blonde's habits and behavior. Maya could only sigh at the red head's 'big sister' complex when it concerned her.

"No, Lilith. Well, not unless you count him scaring me with that damn truck of his." Maya muttered, glaring over at Naruto from the corner of her eye as she said it. Lilith laughed on the other end, having experienced something similar when she first met Naruto while they temporarily worked together on a job. "Anyways, I was wondering if you could tell me more about him. I keep getting this feeling that there's more to him, almost as if...I don't know..."

_"Don't worry, Maya. I had that same feeling about him when I first met him, too. As for information, it's easiest to describe him as a Hunter, kind of like Mordecai."_ Lilith began. _"He spends most of his time out in the wilderness, making stops in towns only to restock on ammunition and sell any wares he comes across. He often hunts down bounties and if those aren't available, he'll wipe out entire bandit camps and simply take anything and everything they have. Personality wise, he doesn't really care about anyone else, he only respects strength, he has a mean streak in him worse than Brick on a bad day, he's very vengeful, and he's very, _very_ thorough in his work."_

"He mentioned something earlier today; he said something about not having anything to live for." Maya responded curiously, yet cautiously; people didn't say things like that without a reason and none of them were pretty. "You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

_"Yeah, I do..."_ Lilith answered softly, her voice quiet and rippled with pain. _"He's lost a lot of people, Maya. His entire family, almost all of his friends; they were all killed in some way. Local wildlife, bandits...Jack. He used to be a good friend of Roland's, too. However, apart from that, I don't know much else that would be of any help. A word to the wise, though; keep an eye on him. He's even more unpredictable than Jack was."_

"...Thanks. I'll call you if I need anything else." Maya muttered softly before disconnecting the call and looking back over at Naruto, who was starting to cook some strips of Bullymong meat skewered with thin metal rods. She noticed how he would pause imperceptibly every few minutes as if he heard something out of the ordinary, his hands twitching to reach for one of his weapons, but he would stop himself and return to the task at hand. She could see it now, the trauma and pain he suffered from. She could see all the tics he had from the slight twitch of a trigger finger nagging for a gun to shoot to the gentle unconscious caress of a handle to his knives or his swords to the subtle actions hinting at possible self-destructive thoughts. It was saddening...

"..." Naruto stayed silent, trying his best to ignore the fact Maya was watching him from where his truck was parked, but it was getting hard. He knew she was being just as cautious of him as he was of her. Despite her being a Siren and being more than capable of killing him with her brain, Naruto could easily kill her as well. If anything, they were evenly matched in concerns to their threat level to one another, but Naruto became even deadlier the moment he manages to escape his prey's sight for even just a few seconds. Maya's Phase power, however...He didn't know what it was and that proved irritating. Chances are, though, she uses it in conjunction with an element, meaning his shield would take the brunt of the assault and keeping him from dying almost instantly.

Then there was _that_...

"You going to keep staring at me or are you going to come over here and eat?" Naruto suddenly grumbled at her, snapping Maya from her own thoughts. Quietly, she casually walked over with a natural sway in her hips that ensnared Naruto's attention for a moment, only for the blonde to shake his head and focus back on dinner. Now that he thought about it, maybe he could finally start putting it together. He'd had it for almost a month now, but he had yet to actually build it. Maybe later...

**xXx**

_Maya grit her teeth as she reloaded her gun, having found herself pinned down behind cover by Hyperion infantry. She was running out of ammunition and she was tiring fast; she didn't know how much longer she'd be able to last. Loading her last magazine of ammunition into her Maliwan Venom submachine gun, Maya closed her eyes and...started praying. She didn't know who she was praying to and she didn't care; she just wanted to live. Opening her eyes, Maya steeled her resolve and stood up from behind cover to make her final stand against the armored figures, but that's when a massive explosion of red Phase-like energy erupted from within the sea of Hyperion ranks..._

Sitting up with a startled gasp, Maya glanced around, finding herself lying on a portable cot not too far from the fire that still burned steadily, a blanket she didn't recall using having fallen from her upper body and pooled in her lap. Judging from the dim light filtering in through the cave entrance, it was probably a little after sunrise. Hearing metal connecting with rock, kind of like a tool being dropped, Maya looked over towards the Technical, only to see Naruto doing something behind it, but she couldn't tell what it was. Getting curious, Maya quietly slipped off the cot and made her way over to where he was, trying to get a look at what he was doing. Before she could get close enough, however, _something_ lunged over the Technical and tackled her to the ground before she could get a good look at it.

"HEEL!" Naruto suddenly called out, causing the thing to suddenly climb off of Maya and back away from her. Groaning, Maya pushed herself back up and looked up to find something she had _not_ been expecting at all. Standing before her at almost six feet tall at the shoulder was a...machine or robot of some kind. It looked like a giant mechanical hyena-like beast of some sort with a very familiar fully-outfitted Dahl Sabre Turret mounted to its back; it had an over-under double-barrel machine gun flanked a pair of rocket pods, a laser targeting sight placed between the two machine gun barrels, a grenade launcher pod mounted between the rocket pods and behind the machine gun barrels, a shield emitter set just below the grenade pod, and hefty ammo boxes attached the sides of the barrels with them wedged between the barrels and the rocket pods. Letting out a low growl as it calmly stalked out from behind the Technical, Maya was shocked to find a second one making its appearance with Naruto following right behind it. Both hyena-machines were painted a solid matte black and dark grey camouflage scheme with polished silver-chrome lining the edges of the clawed paws and the fangs in their jaws, their eyes glowing a bright and menacing crimson.

"I would like you to meet my companions; Spaz and Taz, the Hyena Brothers." Naruto Introduced as he stepped between both of the giant automatons, patting their shoulders. Simultaneously, the turrets on both Spaz's and Taz's backs disintegrated into pale blue-ish light fragments and sparks via the digistruct module built into their spines directly below their shoulder blades. Once the turrets were gone, the Hyena Brothers became more relaxed and laid down with their head resting on their front paws. "They were an experiment being conducted in private by a member of the Dahl company seeking to create a weapon that could act and move on its own. However, they were deemed 'too dangerous' to mass produce due to a problem with their AI programming that made them ignore orders and were to be destroyed. After finding out about them, I intercepted the transport that was carrying them and...rescued them, if you will."

"And where were they before?" Maya asked cautiously, her eyes never leaving the two behemoths and her right hand never straying too far from the pistol on her thigh; they made her nervous. Naruto jabbed a thumb towards the back of the Technical.

"They were stored in a wooden crate in the back of my truck, deactivated and segmented." Rubbing the back of his neck, Naruto glanced at the two. "I had been meaning to fix 'em up for now, but I was either busy with bounties or I just ended up forgetting. So, I decided to get to work on them last night after you went to bed. I was honestly hoping to go 'hunting' for a bit before you got up so that the twins could stretch their legs."

"What exactly were you planning on...hunting?" Maya asked uncertaintly, causing Naruto to gain a thoughtful expression that went unseen due to his face mask and goggles. Pulling out a handheld touch-screen device from his pocket and tapping it a couple times, Naruto found what he was looking for and put it away.

"There's a band of nomads just ten miles north of us. Why? Want to join?" Naruto inquired, smirking slightly behind his mask. She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment and for a second there, he thought she would start protesting, but he was surprised when Maya just sighed and rubbed the back of her neck, cocking her hips to the side as she put her other hand on her hip.

"Alright, fine. Just don't expect me to save your ass if you get into trouble." Maya muttered before turning around and walking back to their make-shift camp, preparing to head out. Raising an eye brow at her reaciton, Naruto glanced down at Spaz as it looked up at him.

"What's gotten into her?" He muttered before shaking his head, mentally chastizing himself for thinking the autonomous weapon platform would actually be able to answer him. Whistling as he slapped the tailgate to the truck, Naruto watched as the Hyena Brothers reacted instantly by hopping to their feet and jumping into the back of the Technical. Jabbing a finger at the truck bed, Naruto narrowed his eyes behind his goggles. "Stay."

They obeyed the order and laid down in the truck bed once Naruto closed the tailgate, the blonde walking around to the driver side door just as Maya finished folding up both of the cots, the only thing that Naruto actively carried with him whenever he was out in the wild. As she carried them back to the truck and strapped them down, Naruto couldn't help glancing over at her and staring at her rear, only to wisely avert his gaze the moment she started turning around. His smirk hidden by his mask, Naruto opened the door and climbed in just as Maya made her way over to the passenger side.

"Ready to go?" Naruto asked once Maya was inside, getting a wordless nod before jabbing his thumb at the turret's internal access opening. "Good. Man the turret."

"Geez. Bossy, much?" Maya muttered under her breath as she climbed over the back of the bench seat and into the cylindrical turret housing, the Technical's engine roaring to life as she did. Despite hearing her, Naruto ignored the comment and slowly pulled out of the decent sized cavern, the sound of snow being compressed under the massive off-road tires going unheard due to the bellowing motor. Reaching up and banging on the metal ceiling twice, Naruto waited a moment before two more bangs echoed back from Maya responding. Grinning a bit more fiendishly, Naruto figured it was time to start teaching the Siren a few things about him that would _never_ change. First on the list?

His driving habits...

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	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Borderlands.

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Blood and Bullets

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Chapter Two

"Thank god!" Maya exclaimed as soon as the modified Technical came to a stop and she scrambled to get out of the turret, stumbling as she landed on shaky legs. Suppressing the urge to Phaselock the blonde asshole and beat some sense into his head, Maya took a deep breath and calmed down, her Maliwan Venom digistructing into her hands as she retrieved it from the storage unit attached to her belt behind her waist. Making sure it was fully loaded, Maya turned around to watch as Spaz and Taz clambered out of the truck, both looking strangely frantic as well despite them being 'man-made mechanized monstrousities of mayhem'.

"Hey! My driving ain't _that_ bad!" Naruto called out indignantly as he hefted the tailgate back into position. Maya swore he was pouting, but she couldn't really tell due to his head coverings. Groaning quietly with frustration and rolling her eyes, Maya found herself on the verge of regretting teaming up with the man and it hadn't even been fourty-eight hours. Glancing up at the far horizon, Maya sighed quietly.

_'Yet another obscenely long day ahead of us...'_ Maya mused to herself with a slight grimace, cursing Pandora's wretched ninety hour day-cycles. It wasn't exactly a problem for her. It was more of a nuiscance; like her new partner. Not even two standard days and her trigger finger was already itching to put a bullet in his ass. A small, but cruel smirk formed on her lips at the thought.

"Better focus, Babe. Deploy." Naruto commented from beside her and then ordered of his two mechanical companions, the turrets digistructing into existence on the backs of the Hyena Brothers. Glancing over at Maya, Naruto gained an impish smirk on his masked face and a teasing tone to his voice. "So, how do you want to do this? Jump straight to the hot and heavy or should we start with some flirting and light petting?"

"Perv..." Maya grumbled quietly while rolling her eyes again as she started walking ahead of him, but she couldn't help blushing at the innuendo. Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto summoned up one of his favorite weapons. It was a bit of a relic compared to the newer guns, but it was very reliable and insanely powerful; the unique two-shot Jakobs shotgun had always been a favourite of his after filching it off that greedy asshole, Marcus Kincaid. Sledge's Shotgun; he despised the 'new' Bandit brand model, finding it insulting. Snapping the rifle in half and popping in a pair of fresh shells, Naruto snapped it back together and cradled the rifle in his hands as he followed after Maya. As they reached the entrance, Naruto glanced around, finding it to be rather spacious inside, but it also gave him one hell of a 'kill box'.

"Alright, boys. Let's get the ball rolling, shall we?" Naruto asked rhetorically of his two AI machines before they both took off, their turrets sounding off with volleys of bullets. He couldn't keep the smirk off his face; they were smart enough not to use their grenades and rockets while underground. The explosive devices had a chance of causing a cave in; incredibly rare to happen, but it was still possible. _'Seems there's some structural faults, but where? I might be able to exploit it somehow.'_

"Pay attention, damn it!" Maya exclaimed as she tried to raise her submachine gun to mow down a nomad that had come running up behind the blonde, whose shotgun was resting on his right shoulder. Before Maya's gun could even move half-way up, she heard a sequential pair of echoing blasts just as the nomad was ripped apart by shotgun pellets and thrown back by the force, the shotgun resting on Naruto's shoulder flying forward and spinning in his hand for a moment before he snapped his hand tight around it, causing it to open up and the two empty shells to suddenly eject from the barrels from the force of the continuous movement.

"Relax, will you? I've got this under control." Naruto reassured as he casually loaded two more shells into his shotgun with a single experienced motion and snapped it closed. Spinning around on his left heel and swinging his rifle around, Naruto struck the side of a nomad's skull with a left backhand, knocking him to the ground long enough for the blonde to raise his right foot and stomp down on his throat while squeezing the trigger and completely blowing apart the heavily armored 'door-shield' of a Nomad Taskmaster and knock him back a few feet just as the man tried to exit a nearby hut. Snapping his rifle in half and reloading it, Naruto gained a deadly expression on his masked face, snapping his rifle back into place. "Guard the exit and make sure no one escapes."

"..." Maya found herself unable to answer verbally and just nodded, keeping the stock of her Maliwan Venom pressed into her shoulder. Glancing away from Naruto for just a moment, Maya's eyes easily located one of the Hyena Brothers; it was hard to tell which one was which since they were identical in everything. It was busy herding a group of nomads into a tight cluster with gunfire, only for the other one, which had perched itself upon a high-up platform amongst the catwalks, to suddenly open fire on the nomads with a single grenade that landed in the very center of them. In a series of explosions originating from the MIRV-based incendiary, the six nomads were blown apart into unrecognizable chunks of singed meat and shredded bits of charred leather clothing. Without pause, the hyena-machine on the cat-walk swung its turret around and locked onto a pair Nomad Torturers that were attempting to corner and defeat the weapon platform.

They underestimated its maneuverability, however. Spaz lunged off to the side to dodge a volley of gunfire, planting its four clawed feet against the wall before pushing off and sending itself up and back while twisting its body, essentially 'back-flipping' and landing on a higher platform behind the shielded nomads. Without hesitation, Spaz unloaded a volley of bullets into their backs before they could turn around, killing them swiftly and allowing it to start heading back down to the ground.

"Shit." Maya hissed under her breath as she was torn from watching the killing machines with wide, awe-struck eyes by some stray bullets that impacted the stone beside her. Kicking off the natural wall of rock, Maya dove behind a crudely made wall of rusted sheet metal and rotted wooden planks just as another spray of bullets peppered the general area she was in, a couple of them punching through the sheet metal. Gritting her teeth, Maya stood up and held out her left hand, her tattoos flaring to life with power as she Phaselocked a Shock-Nomadic, the sphere of elemental energy generating a Singularity effect and drawing in a pair of Nomad Pyros and three regular nomads. Eyes widening slightly upon catching sight of narrow flame-jets stabbing out from the fuel packs of the Pyros, Maya quickly ducked back down behind cover just a split second before both fuel packs exploded, ripping all six people apart in a fiery blast.

"Nice. I give it a 7." Naruto suddenly spoke up from behind her, smirking behind his mask. Glowering at him for his care-free attitude, Maya slowly stood up and saw that the explosion had resulted in the deaths of several other nomads due to the resulting shrapnel and additional explosions. That was when Maya took notice of something about Naruto; his left bicep was bleeding from being grazed by a bullet along with a hole being punched into it, and another bullet-grazing across the back of his left hand.

"You're hurt." Maya stated with a mix of calmness and concern. Taking notice of the wounds for the first time, Naruto frowned slightly and cocked an eye brow, idly wondering when he had been clipped. He had already known about the bullet hole in his arm, but that was a given since the slug was lodged against his humerus. Raising his shotgun and resting it on his right shoulder, Naruto glanced over the minor wounds he had suffered. "Don't you have a shield?"

"Yeah, but it only protects me from elemental weapons." Naruto muttered, finally starting to feel the pain from the injuries. Thankfully, the nomads had already been cleared out. Walking over to what appeared to be a deck-platform for one of the huts, Naruto took a seat in an old metal fold-out chair that was beside a fire pit built into the deck. It was just a simple hole carved into the deck with a metal drum set into it. "Go to my truck and look under the passenger seat; you'll find some medical supplies there."

"Alright. I'll be right back." Maya acknowledged before running off. Sighing once she was gone, Naruto undid the clasps to his body armor and pulled the metal bullet-proof vest off with a bit of difficulty, setting it down beside him as he took his gloves off and set them down as well. Taking his mask and goggles off first, Naruto struggled with his shirt for a minute before finally managing to get it off. With it removed, his torso was left bare and revealed what had once been hidden.

A series of dark imperial blue tattoos covered his entire left side, not unlike those of a Siren. They reached all the way from his left knee up to his left shoulder, covering the left half of his chiseled torso on the front as well as the back, all around his neck, and all the way down to his finger tips on his left arm. His left ear had a line of the sapphire coloration running along the ridge of his ear while a dot decorated the front and back of his left earlobe, the only visible sign of its presence that wasn't normally covered up by his mask and hood. Scattered all across his torso were nearly three dozen scars of varying sizes, shapes, and causes.

_'I wonder how she'll react to them.'_ Naruto thought to himself as he gazed upon the markings he had been born with. Apart from Naruto, no one knew that his mother had been a powerful Siren nor that his father had been a technological genius and archeologist as well as a war hero in the past. No one knew that he had the blood of a Siren flowing through his veins, even though he never showed any sign of inheriting her power or anything. He remembered watching her literally tear apart a handful of bandits with her Phasechains that attempted to take over their town back when he was only a child.

"Hey, I couldn't find any Insta-health vials, but-" Maya called out loud as she approached, only to glance up at Naruto and audibly gasp, her eyes locked onto his tattoos. Glancing at her for a moment, Naruto rolled his eyes with a slight smirk before reaching out and taking the med-kit before opening it up. Pulling out an alcohol swab and a switch-blade knife from his right boot, Naruto cleaned the blade real quick and then cleaned the area around the wound on his bicep. Without a moment of hesitation, Naruto carefully slipped the blade into the narrow hole, gritting his teeth and wincing as he tried to dig out the slug buried in his arm.

"...Let me..." Maya whispered quietly and gently as she held her left hand over the wound, summoning up a fraction of her power to retrieve the mangled bullet with a minor Phaselock. Cocking an eye brow at her actions, Naruto merely nodded in thanks before focusing back on fixing himself up, only for Maya to suddenly take over the task. It not only confused him, but it also made him a bit cautious. Not to mention, a bit nervous, too. He wasn't used to people helping him for no apparent reason. Then again, Maya was probably only doing it out of kin-ship due to his Siren-esque tattoos. As she started to stitch him up, Maya glanced up at him for a moment before looking back at the entry wound she was sewing shut. "Where did you get these tattoos?"

"Born with them. I don't know much about Sirens, but I know that all known Sirens, up until now, were all female." He answered back calmly, pausing only to wince in mild pain. "My mother was a Siren. She used to tell me stories of all these adventures she used to have when she was younger. She wasn't particularly strong, but she made due."

"..." Maya stayed silent, letting him talk. She finally figured out what it was that had been making her feel so unnerved by him and now that she knew, Maya found herself wanting to know more about him. Naruto let out a brief, humorless laugh as he stared off at the opposite side of the large 'residential cave'.

"She always called me her little 'Warlock' back then, a reference to the fact we both had similar 'birth-mark' tattoos." Naruto muttered quietly with a bittersweet tone in his voice, his eyes narrowing slightly as Maya finished stitching the other two injuries on his arm and bandaged them up, doing the one on his hand last. Once she let go of his arm, Naruto looked his arm over and nodded with a grim, stoic expression on his face. "That's what I'll call myself. I'm not a Siren; I'm a Warlock."

"It suits you." Maya teased lightly, her smug smirk proving infectious and causing Naruto to smirk a little as well. Just as she finished packing everything back into the med-kit bag, Maya had a thought. "What are we going to do about your shirt? The sleeve is torn and bloody; the smell might attract unwanted attention."

"Hm..." Naruto hummed quietly in thought as he picked up his shirt, thinking for a moment. Coming to a decision, he suddenly threw it into the fire beside him, surprising Maya a little bit. He gave her another smirk as he pulled another one from one of his storage devices, surprising her yet again. Putting it on, Naruto started gearing himself back up, putting his mask back on while leaving his goggles to hang freely around his neck and left his hood down. "I've learned to keep spares on me at all times. You never know when you'll need a change of clothes."

Before Maya could say anything in return, however, Spaz and Taz finally returned, their turrets deactivated and bearing a couple scuff marks on their metal bodies from a few bullets ricocheting off their heavy armor after their shields were temporarily disabled from heavy gunfire. Noticing them as they came out from behind some of the crude huts off to the side, Naruto walked over to the Hyena Brothers as he pulled on a fresh pair of gloves after tossing his old ones into the fire as well.

"Hm. Nothing too bad. Just need a few touch-ups on the paint job." Naruto muttered to himself as he examined the damage, which turned out to be purely cosmetic. Turning around to face Maya, he continued talking. "Well, let's get started with looting this place. I don't know about you, but I don't want to be here when the Varkids start coming."

"Yeah, you have a point there." Maya muttered quietly with a grimace, idly recalling her past encounters with them. None of them were pleasant. Sighing with defeat, Maya cradled her Venom once more as she went off in one direction while Naruto went in another, both cautious of any possible enemies that may have hidden themselves away during the fighting so that they might ambush them...

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"Alright, now that you've had your fun..." Maya started as she climbed into Naruto's Technical on the passenger side while the strange 'Warlock' started it up, the hyena-machines deactivated in the back of the truck to conserve their battery power. "Mind clueing me into your 'plans' or whatever?"

"Well, first on the 'To Do List' is to head out to Liar's Berg to see a friend of mine." Naruto answered non-chalantly, his right arm thrown across the back of the bench-seat lazily as he kept his eyes forward, moving his hand only to shift gears. Unlike other Technicals that had automatic transmissions and such, Naruto liked to have full control over his truck. Now that he thought about it, his truck was so different from a Technical, it shouldn't even be called a Technical. He'll brainstorm with Scooter some time over what to call it when he gets back to Sanctuary or something. "Apparently, someone's been looking for me."

"It's not like you're hiding or anything." Maya grumbled, referring to the nearly deafening roar of his truck's engine along with his reputation, which Lilith had informed her of prior to her meeting him in the Slug-Spitter. He had actually been making quite a bit of noise, both figuratively and literally, all across Pandora's north-west coast. He had even laid waste to almost a third of the Hyperion city, Opportunity, only three or four days after Jack's death. Since then, Hyperion's hold on Pandora had been slipping quite heavily. It was only a matter of time before another of the 'Mega-Corporations' came in and usurped Hyperion's reign.

"It's not just that, Maya." Naruto continued with a slightly more serious tone, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, his goggles hanging around his neck while his hood was left down and his mask still placed over his mouth. "There's been strange activity all across the coast, especially out in Sawtooth Cauldron..."

"Wait. Bandit territory? Who would be crazy enough to mess with them?" Maya inquired, idly recalling a time when she and her three old comrades had done just that. Then again, it had been almost two years since then, so it was likely that the bandits had beefed up their security measures. To a certain degree, at least. None of them were all too bright.

"Apart from myself, not many. Not only that, but a lot of Hyperion facilities have been going dark, almost as if the Spirit of Death had swooped in and wiped them out without a sound or warning. I don't know who, or what, is stirring up so much trouble, but I don't like it." Naruto answered calmly, yet coldly as his eyes narrowed. Maya shivered slightly, swearing the temperature had just dropped another ten degrees for a few moments, causing her to mentally curse Pandora's 7-year winter season, which had just started not long before her first indirect encounter with Jack; she still didn't like trains because of that day. "I plan on checking it out and, if at all possible, stopping them. Your last chance to bail will be when we reach Liar's Berg. After that, there's no turning back."

"..." Maya stayed silent, feeling a bit conflicted at his last comment. Sure, he could possibly be the first-ever _male_ Siren/Warlock, but there was something about him that...actually _terrified_ her. Handsome Jack hadn't scared her. Not even The Warrior had scared her, really. The fact that he frightened her without any real reason was enough to make Maya extremely cautious around him. Then there were his combat skills. He had wiped out an entire nomad camp of roughly fifty to sixty men on his own, utilizing only his hyena-machines, but she had a feeling he would have still dominated them on his own. She also had a feeling that he hadn't been showing any of his _true_ talents, either. She had yet to see him draw any of the weapons visibly holstered on him in combat, excluding that pathetic excuse of a bounty hunter trying to kill Naruto back in Sanctuary.

_'Ironic. A 'bounty hunter' hunting another 'bounty hunter'. Then again, it's not like bounty hunters actually care for each other.'_ Maya thought to herself idly, peeking out between the gaps in the metal slats covering the normally open window of her door. That was when she noticed something. They weren't heading towards the nearest Fast Travel Network station. "Naruto, where are we going? I thought you said we had to go to Liar's Berg?"

"We are." Naruto responded casually. "We're just taking the scenic route."

"What do you mean?" Maya inquired, seriously confused and worried yet again. Although she couldn't actually see it, she swore Naruto was smirking.

"For one, I don't have a Fast Travel Pass, meaning I can't use the FT Network. Not only that, but my truck's a one-of-a-kind, meaning I can't just digistruct it like a Runner or anything. Second, there's the matter of my truck being unable to _float_ and I don't go anywhere without my truck. Thus, we have to take the ferry to the Southern Shelf." Naruto answered while pulling his mask down and retrieving a cigarette from a slot-like compartment in his dashboard, lighting it a moment later. Maya, being one of many that found Naruto's driving skills to be rather insane and simply atroucious, paled at the thought.

"But that's _at least_ a thirty-six hour drive! We're all the way out in the northern reaches of _Tundra Express_!" Maya suddenly spat, making Naruto stare at her blankly, merely blinking out of surprise by her sudden out burst. "There is no way I'm riding in this death trap you call a truck for that long!"

"Hey! I already told you that my driving ain't that bad!" Naruto snapped back with annoyance, glaring at her half-heartedly as he took another drag from his cigarette. Holding the butt of his cigarette between his right index and middle fingers, Naruto jabbed said fingers at the Siren while gnashing his teeth. "You got a problem with my driving?! Then you can get the fuck out and _walk_! Got that?!"

"You're such an ass!" Maya snarled at him before turning away from him as best as she could, her arms crossed over her chest as she glared out through the narrow spaces of the passenger door 'window'. Growling quietly in his throat, Naruto sucked in another lungful of smoke and held it in for a few seconds before finally exhaling, glaring angrily out in front of him as he drove. A very tense silence reigned supreme in the cab after that, the only sound heard being the unholy bellow of Naruto's 'Technically-Not-A-Technical' as he roared across the frozen snow-scape of the Tundra Express region.

Despite the incredibly powerful engine, the truck was actually slower than normal Technicals, but that was mostly due to the immense weight of the additional heavy armor-plating on the chassis, reinforced frame, the increased weight of the much larger engine, and a few other factors. Even though it was slower than Technicals, Naruto's truck more than made up for it in armor and firepower. He had used mostly Jakobs and Vladov parts for the twin pairs of double-barreled hood-mounted machine guns while using a great deal of Torgue parts for the triple-barrel rocket launcher mounted to the rotating turret opening. Not many things had been able to stand up to his truck after taking only a single minute of punishment from either set of his vehicle's weaponry...

Not even Rakk Hives...

_'Asshole...'_ Maya mentally growled out at the blonde menace behind the wheel, still glaring out the window. If it weren't for the fact she was actually a bit low on ammunition because she had forgotten to restock while in Sanctuary and that Naruto probably wouldn't stop the truck to let her out, Maya _would_ have gotten out and walked. Riding shotgun with Naruto was about as safe as playing 'Hot Potato' with a live grenade. She hated how he was so inconsiderate of others and his unwaivering stubborness. That was when she felt a little guilty for some reason, recalling what Naruto had said just before they left Sanctuary.

Sneaking a brief glance at him out of the corner of her eye, Maya frowned slightly, noticing how Naruto gripped the steering wheel with his left hand so tightly that his glove was straining at the knuckles. Not only that, but his eyes were narrowed greatly as he puffed on another cigarette. He was too tense, probably from containing and suppressing his true emotions for most of his life. She wouldn't be surprised if her assumption was correct. If she were to be completely honest, Naruto wasn't all that bad of a driver. He just had a tendency to pull off normally insane stunts that could easily result in killing them both for no apparent reason other than, in his words, 'shits and giggles'.

"Hey, Naruto?" Maya began softly as she looked over at him, only getting him to glance over at her for a brief moment. "I, uh...I'm-"

_Ka-BOOOM!_

"Shit!" Naruto cursed, ripping the steering wheel to the right to dodge that sudden eruption of an explosive barrel slamming into the ground no more than ten feet away from them. Gritting his teeth as he felt the weight of his truck shift over to the driver-side while lifting the passenger-side wheels up a little more than what was considered safe, Naruto reacted instantly, his right hand flying to the gear shift and switching to a higher gear before continuing to turn sharply to the right, only to put the truck in reverse and floor the gas pedal, his thumbs flipping up the covers to a pair of red buttons embedded in the steering wheel as the improvised 180 degree turn stabalized.

"Fucking bandits! Eat lead!" Naruto snarled before pressing the buttons and holding them down, resulting in a continuous volley of large calibur bullets to pepper the four Bandit Technicals and a single Outrider leading them with a machine gun mounted on the turret. The Outrider managed to swerve to the side just in time to avoid any serious damage, but the Technical behind it wasn't so lucky due to a bullet or three striking the explosive barrel cradled in its catapult launcher, rupturing it and causing it to detonate prematurely, resulting in the destruction of the Technical itself.

Releasing the buttons and flipping the covers back over them, Naruto whipped the truck back around, accidentally causing Maya to slide across the seat with a brief startled cry and slam into Naruto's side, but he didn't even budge due to his rigid posture and his tensed right leg as he pushed the gas pedal all the way down to the bare metal flooring of the truck's interior. Glancing into the side-view mirror beside him, Naruto's eyes narrowed for a moment as he watched two of the Technicals split off to the right and the third off to the left while the Outrider remained behind him. The second Technical on his right gradually began to pull out in front of him while all four vehicles started drawing closer to him; they were trying to box him in.

"Not gonna happen, mother-fuckers!" Naruto growled as he suddenly slammed on the brakes at the last second, resulting in the two Technicals flanking him to open fire on one another, resulting in their simultaneous explosive deaths, while the back of Naruto's truck made contact with the front of the Outrider. The initial impact crumpled the faster vehicles twin 'arms' and crushed the cockpit, but the Outrider's speed resulted in it flipping up and over Naruto's truck while the blonde steered around the now-flaming and smoking wreckage as it crashed into the ground ahead of him, only for his eyes to widen with shock as the remaining Bandit Technical came into sight directly in front of him with two bandits in the back with a pair of rocket launchers, both armed with a Bandit brand Launcher. He barely had enough time to press the button linked with his turret, causing it to fire a single volley of three homing rockets as the bandits fired their own weapons, resulting in twin rockets hurtling towards the truck he and Maya currently occupied.

"HOLD ON!" Naruto roared as he suddenly turned the truck to the right while slamming on the brakes, only to turn to the right in the seat and wrap his arms around Maya protectively just moments before the rockets made contact with the driver side of Naruto's truck, which was still sliding sideways in the snow with the passenger-side tires on the verge of leaving contact with the ground. The resulting explosions caused the heavily armored vehicle to flip side-ways, rolling several times while the sole-surviving Bandit Technical was utterly destroyed by Naruto's last-second counter-attack. Once the truck came to a stop on all four wheels once again, Naruto groaned quietly and struggled to stay awake, his head pounding and his heart beat thundering in his ears.

The engine had gone silent as wisps of smoke oozed out from beneath the hood, but apart from that, the truck was still in one piece; it was the main reason why he modified the truck so heavily, wanting to make it damn near indestructible. In his heavily dazed state, he idly wondered if the Hyena Brothers had survived, but he was distracted from that line of thought when he started to regain full consciousness, however temporary it may be.

"Ngh...Shit..." Naruto grunted out weakly, pain stricken and numb. Hearing something, Naruto struggled to move his head, finding Maya curled up slightly with her lying half-way under him on the bench seat and relatively unharmed apart from some slight bruising, though she was unconscious. He himself didn't get off so lucky; he was bleeding from a cut at the edge of his forehead above his left eye, his bottom lip was busted near the right corner, the bullet wound in his left arm was bleeding again from the stitches being ripped back open, his right hand was most likely broken after using it to cradle the back of Maya's head and cushion a damaging impact with the steel ceiling of the cab, his left knee burned with agony, and his entire back was stiff from heavy bruising with possibly cracked or broken ribs as well. Groaning a little louder than before as he forced himself to move, Naruto gently shook Maya's shoulder. "Ma...Maya? Maya, wake up..."

"Ngh...Naruto? What happened?" Maya mumbled out as she squeezed her eyes shut tight and grimaced with mild discomfort and pain, a little disoriented from the sudden assault that had lasted all of maybe thirty to fourty-five seconds from beginning to end. Opening her eyes and looking up at Naruto's masked face, Maya snapped back into focus and gasped worriedly. "Oh, my god! Naruto, you're hurt!"

"Y-Yeah...that tends to...happen a lot..." He answered a little sarcastically, but she knew he was just trying to keep her from worrying. As his vision blurred and darkened from a mix of a possible concussion, pain, and minor blood loss, Naruto gave her a reassuring eye smile before suddenly passing out, sliding off the bench seat and onto the floor in front of it. The last thing he heard before he lost conciousness entirely was Maya calling out his name and what sounded like another vehicle in the distance...

**xXx**

"Is he...going to be okay?" Maya timidly inquired of the stranger that had found them out in the snowy lands of the Tundra Express, using an Outrunner to tow Naruto's truck back to the person's camp; luckily, Spaz and Taz were strapped down in the truck bed during the crash, so they weren't all that damaged. The woman was rather friendly and seemed to know Naruto, something that made Maya cautious of her at first.

Standing at a short height of 5'4" and appearing to be about twenty-eight, the woman had tanned skin, dark auburn-red shoulder-length hair pulled back in a short pony-tail, deep blue-grey eyes, and a thin athletic build that bore a slight hourglass figure. She was dressed in a bright orange sleeveless skin-tight top with black on the shoulders and edges while a thin white line ran down the sides of her ribs, black skin-tight elbow sleeve on either arm with a built-in dark grey elbow pad on either one, black fingerless gloves on her hands with dark grey metal caps on the knuckles and a dark grey metal plate on the back of her hands, baggy black cargo pants hanging from her mildly broad hips with the leggings tucked into her black knee-high combat boots, dark grey metal knee pads strapped to her legs over her pants on bands of black skin-tight fabric, a small dark grey one-strap bag was slung over her right shoulder that reached across her modest B-cup bust to just under her left arm that left it resting on her upper back while a small pouch sat on the strap just under her left breast, a rather large and wicked looking hunting knife sheathed across the back of her waist with the handle sticking out from behind her left hip, and a dark grey satchel bag hanging from her left hip with the strap wound around her belt. Strapped to her right thigh was a storage device of black metal with a thin cyan blue light running down its length, just like all other storage devices.

"Relax, will ya'? He'll be fine. He's a lot tougher than he looks." The woman, who had identified herself as Reina earlier, responded a bit teasingly with a grin as she remained crouched beside Naruto, who was bandaged up and lying on a cot. His shirt, body armor, and head coverings had been removed, his torso bound tightly with bandages to keep his cracked ribs from worsening along with the possible hairline fractures in his vertabrae; luckily, there was no permanent damage. His left knee, which had been dislocated in the crash, had been popped back into place and wrapped in a brace over his pant leg, his boots left on him since his feet and shins were unharmed. A make-shift splint had been made from Naruto's entire right hand, having broken most of the bones in the appendage. His head was wrapped in bandages as well due to the head wound he suffered, but it was only a mere cut. "He's also incredibly protective as well as possessive."

"What do you mean?" Maya asked softly, yet cautiously. Reina, who seemed naturally peppy and happy, suddenly gained a faint, sad smile before giving Maya a side-long glance.

"Look at your injuries and compare them to his. Look at what just happened to you two." Reina responded, making Maya glance down at herself. Apart from some patches of bruising scattered all around her body, Maya was practically unharmed. Naruto, on the other hand...

"He...He protected me..." Maya whispered, barely able to utter the words as feelings of guilt and regret gripped at her heart. Eyes watering with fresh tears, Maya covered her mouth and nose with one hand, unable to take her eyes off of Naruto's face as her other arm remained crossed over her stomach. _'Even after what I said, he still made sure I was safe. Oh, Naruto, I'm so sorry.'_

"Ya' know, Naruto never was one to do things without a reason." Reina commented as she stood up, only to sit back down in a metal fold-out chair. Just on the other side of the cot Naruto was lying on was a decent sized fire while Naruto's truck, currently out of commission, was parked on the left side just within the cave's entrance while Reina's standard snow white and light grey camouflage Outrunner sat just across from it on the right side. Reina smirked impishly while glancing over at Maya. "I wonder what it was that made him want to protect ya' so bad?"

"W-What are you talking about?" Maya responded, stuttering a little at first as her cheeks became a little flushed. Drying her eyes with her right hand, Maya looked away nervously. She knew what the shorter woman was implying. "There's nothing going on between us."

"Riiiiight..." Reina replied with a cheeky grin, her response dripping with sarcasm. It only made Maya blush even more and resulting in the slightly older woman pouting slightly, mostly because she was letting the other woman get to her. That was when a thought occured to Reina, making her sigh while rubbing the back of her neck. "Man, I've got a lot of work to do on that damn engine. What the hell happened to you two, anyways? I heard all these explosions and went out to investigate it, but by the time I got there, it was all over."

"Bandits. We got surprised by a few Technicals and an Outrider." Maya answered, only to pause for a moment and look back over at Naruto with a look of admiration, confusion, and awe. "I don't know how he does it, but he just keeps surprising me with what he's capable of doing. I've never seen anyone drive like he does. And LIVE..."

"Yeah, that's Naruto, for ya'. And just so ya' know, Naruto doesn't get 'surprised'. He's too cautious and crazy for that to happen." Reina agreed and then corrected, scratching under her chin in thought. "Ya' must've done something to really get him thinking for him to miss a bunch of stupid, noisy bandits."

"..." Maya cast her gaze down at the ground at that, frowning slightly. Guilt and regret tugged at her heart, making her chest ache. It must have been when she called him an ass, all over something as stupid as her not liking how he drove. But why would that affect him so bad? It wasn't like he was a friendly person to begin with. That's when she recalled Reina's words from a minute ago; he never did anything without a reason, but at the same time, he was very protective as well as possessive. Could it be that he protected her because...he had feelings for her? Shaking her head slightly, Maya cleared out those thoughts.

"Something _did_ happen, huh?" Reina asked softly with concern, noticing Maya's downtrodden expression. She refused to say anything about it, but Maya at least nodded in response, her arms crossed under her ample D-cup breasts. Standing up, Reina found herself feeling a little jealous of Maya, mostly because the blue haired Siren was taller than her, standing at 5'9". Dismissing those thoughts, though, Reina reached up and put a hand on Maya's shoulder, making the taller woman glance at her slightly while the red head smiled warmly. "Don't worry about it. If he cares for ya' in any way, he'll be the one to apologize first. It's just how he is."

"But it wasn't even his fault...It was mine." Maya whispered weakly, making Reina sigh quietly.

"Doesn't matter to him. He'll still apologize." The shorter female assured while letting her hand drop from Maya's shoulder, turning around and heading towards Naruto's truck. "I'll be back in a bit. I want to see just what was busted."

"..." Maya was quiet as she moved the fold-out chair closer to Naruto's cot before sitting down beside him, idly noticing how peaceful and serene Naruto's face looked as he slept. Even though they had come uncomfortably close to death, Maya recalled a strange sensation when Naruto had wrapped his arms around her just before the truck was hit. She felt..._safe_, as if absolutely _nothing_ could harm her so long as he was there. A slight, almost invisible smile formed on her full, blue-painted lips as she stared at him. She imagined herself in his arms again and suddenly, the chilly air wasn't quite so cold, even though Naruto hadn't moved from his cot nor had she moved from her chair.

That's when she realized something. She _had_ moved, if only just slightly...

She was holding Naruto's tattooed left hand with her own, rubbing her thumb over the back of his bandaged hand. Feeling his hand gently grip her hand in return despite the fact he was unconscious, Maya couldn't help smiling a little shyly as she blushed faintly, wondering if Reina was right...

**xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Borderlands.

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Blood and Bullets

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Chapter Three

"..." Maya sat vigilantly beside Naruto as time slipped by. Reina had left a while ago to gather the parts and tools she would need in order to repair Naruto's truck, leaving the two alone for some time. Not like it mattered; Naruto probably wouldn't wake up for at least another twenty-four to fourty-eight hours. As she sat there beside the cot, Maya picked up a small rock and turned it over in her hand for a moment before half-heartedly throwing it. Lashing out with her left hand as she called upon her Phaselock, Maya watched only as the pebble was trapped by the translucent orb of dark colored energy, only to be released, resulting in it falling straight to the ground. Sighing quietly, Maya rubbed the back of her neck and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees.

She still felt responsible for it all...

Heaving another sigh, Maya forced herself to stand and search for something to occupy her mind. Walking over to the truck, Maya walked around to the driver side and examined the external damage it had suffered. The two tires were badly damaged, but still capable of carrying them a fair distance. The heavily armored panels were scorched and stripped of their paint. Just in front of the driver side door was a deep and mangled dent with small chunks of the armor plating missing, a second one having been left just in front of the rear driver-side tire. From what Reina had been ranting about earlier, the radiator ruptured, a couple bolts in the framework supporting the engine had been sheared, the transmission shell was cracked, the suspension system had been totaled, the ammo box for the passenger side machine guns was busted, the barrels to all four hood-mounted cannons were mangled and broken, the triple-barrel rocket launcher was trashed, the gas tank had a leak, there was a leak in both transmission and brake fluids, the massive custom-made brake drums needed to be replaced; all in all, the truck needed a serious over-haul on almost _everything_.

The entire event replayed in her mind, over and over again. From the moment she tried to apologize to him up until the moment she saw how badly injured he was. She realized that Naruto had continuously maneuvered the truck to ensure he was positioned between her and whatever the threat was; the explosive barrel, the wrecked Outrider, the rockets, the crash. He might not have even done it consciously, probably reacting instinctually. Reina's words echoed in her mind again as Maya walked around the truck to the passenger door and opened it.

_Ya' know, Naruto never was one to do things without a reason..._

Sitting down on the bench seat, Maya sighed quietly and slouched, her knee accidentally hitting the dashboard and causing the glove box to pop open, spilling its contents onto the floor. Groaning quietly in mild complaint, Maya leaned down and start gathering everything up, only to pause when she came across an old photo. It was of Naruto and a woman, but it looked to be a pretty old photo. Probably at least ten years old, if her guess was right.

Standing at 5'5", the woman looked to be about his same general age with smooth chin-length dark crimson hair, dark brown eyes that were almost black in color, and sun-tanned skin. A scar crossed her right cheek and over the bridge of her nose, a few others present on the visible skin of her body. She was dressed in a pair of dark grey spandex shorts that cut off just a couple inches above her knees, short-sleeve fishnet top under a black midriff-bearing tank top that hugged her body like a second skin, black elbow-length fingerless gloves on her forearms with a metal plate on the back of her hands, and black open-toe sandals on her feet.

Sheathed behind her waist was a simple-looking machete-like weapon in a tan colored sheath, the handle wrapped tightly in black leather while a tassel of dark maroon string hung from the metal ring that made up the pommel of the blade's handle. The sheath was attached to a thin dark red leather belt that circled her slim waist with the machete handle sticking out from behind her left hip, a storage device attached to the belt behind her right hip, and a pistol holstered to the side of her right thigh.

Naruto looked almost the same back then as he did now, only he didn't have his swords, the cloth 'skirt' thing around his waist, or his goggles, but he was wearing a baggy black long-sleeve trench coat over everything. He still looked younger, being probably between the ages of nineteen and twenty-two at the time the photo was taken, his hair being much shorter than it was now. Maya could tell they were in love with each other, but it was made obvious by the fact that both parties were smiling with their arms wrapped around each other and looking as if they had just been kissing moments prior to being 'ambushed' by the photographer.

"Her name was Sarah." Naruto suddenly spoke up from just outside the door, startling Maya and making her heart race. Turning around, Maya had a look of nervousness on her face, feeling as if she were intruding on his privacy. Naruto was leaning against the side of the truck in order to maintain his balance while keeping his weight off his hurting left leg.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean-" Maya's frantic sputterings of an apology were interrupted when Naruto simply smiled sadly while staring at the photo in her hands. Noticing what he was looking at, Maya slowly handed it to him before sliding over on the bench seat, giving her wounded partner a spot to sit and rest. Gently taking the picture, he climbed into the truck and sat down, wincing slightly in discomfort due to his injuries.

"My mom had snuck up on us and snapped this picture just after Sarah told me she was two months pregnant with our child..." Naruto whispered, recalling the bitter-sweet memories with shocking clarity. "Then it happened..."

"...Naruto?" Maya muttered quietly and worriedly, seeing the tears falling from Naruto's eyes as his face became emotionless and blank. When he answered, his voice was cold and filled with malice and hatred, yet weighed down with heart-ache and suffering.

"I lost everything that day. My mother, my father, my little sister, my fiance, my unborn child. _Everything_." Naruto hissed out through clenched teeth, only to suddenly relax when Maya gently put her left hand over his own left hand, making him hesitantly look over at her. He was quiet for a few minutes as he composed himself, staring at the photo in his hand. "We had been attacked by bandits. We held our own pretty well, but the rest of the town wasn't so lucky. In the end, the bandits got tired of playing around with us and fired several rockets at us from their Outriders. I was sent out a window in the back of the house by the initial blastwave, but everyone else..."

"That's when you decided to close yourself off from the world, right?" Maya whispered softly, internally wondering where the question had come from. Slowly glancing over at her, Naruto nodded slightly before looking back to the photo. Maya's cheeks burned faintly with a weak blush as she wondered what it would take to coax him back out of his shell, but she managed to ignore those thoughts for the most part. Without thinking, Maya reached over and gently pulled the picture from Naruto's finger tips, only to set it back in the glove compartment along with everything else and shut it. She then reached up and gently caressed Naruto's right cheek with her left hand, turning his head so that he was looking at her. "Don't you think...that maybe it's about time you moved on and let someone in?"

"..." Naruto was quiet for a few minutes and although he didn't say anything, Maya could see the emotion in his eyes as he hesitated, afraid of being hurt again like he had been. That was when he slowly pulled away from her and climbed out of the truck, limping his way back over to the cot. Maya could only sit there while staring down at the dashboard in front of her, feeling as if she had just been kicked in the stomach. She had expected such a reaction from him, but it didn't help to soften the blow any.

_'Stupid. He'll never open up to you now.'_ Maya mentally scolded herself, leaning forward and resting her forehead on the cool metal of the dashboard as she closed her eyes. How could she be so stupid? Sighing out of defeat, Maya figured it was for the best in the end and stayed where she was. For several long minutes, that's how she stayed. Until she heard something, prompting her to open her eyes and look up. Sitting back in the seat beside her was Naruto, having put his shirt back on. He slowly looked up at her and smiled weakly, something that made Maya smile as well.

"..." Maya didn't say anything; she just smiled. Relaxing a little, Naruto reached up with his left hand and closed the door, locking it in place before getting comfortable in his spot.

"...I'm sorry for being such an asshole." Naruto suddenly apologized, surprising Maya and making her blush a little, remembering what Reina had told her about Naruto apologizing first if he actually cared for her. As the hours wore on, Naruto and Maya started swapping stories of their past adventures to pass the time, neither one noticing nor caring how long they were in there...

**xXx**

"Mmm..." Maya moaned softly in her sleep, curling up a little more as she cuddled a bit closer against Naruto's side. Said blonde was sleeping as well, propped up against the passenger-side door with his left arm wrapped around the slumbering Siren. Outside of the truck, they never noticed the arrival of two others. Climbing out of her Outrunner, Reina raised her arms up and arched her back, groaning as she stretched after having gone through a twelve-hour road trip. Stepping out of a Technical that was modified into something akin to a tow-truck, however, was a rather tall and muscular man.

He stood at almost 6'4", appearing to be about in his late thirties or early fourties. His skin was tanned, his hair short and black, a short and thick beard ran along his jaw line and along his top lip, and a pair of orange-lensed sunglasses hid his eyes while the right lense was a bit cracked. He was dressed in a pair of baggy dark brown and light brown camouflage pants tucked into grey knee-high armor-plated combat boots, a black short-sleeve shirt that was practically skin-tight on him due to his broad chest and wide shoulders, black fingerless gloves on his hands, a pair of metal dog-tags hanging around his neck on a thin chain, and a storage device strapped to the side of his right thigh.

"Maaan...Where'd they run off to now?" Reina whined childishly while taking off her hooded jacket and tossing it into the driver seat of her Outrunner, noticing that Naruto was missing from his cot and Maya was nowhere in sight. She knew better than to think someone had come and kidnapped them. There weren't any signs of a struggle and the truck was still there; even the dumbest of bandits would have tried to take it simply because it looked a lot scarier than a regular Technical. The towering man beside her, Timberwolf, simply tapped her shoulder and pointed at the damaged truck itself.

Peeking in between two of the armor slats barring the passenger-side window, Reina couldn't help smiling upon seeing Naruto and Maya sleeping in the cab. Walking back over to the vigilant former soldier, Reina waved him over to the back of the tow-truck.

"Let's leave them alone for awhile. They've earned some time to rest." The short woman informed the man while dropping the tailgate on the Technical...

**xXx**

_Vrrrt! Vrrrt!_

"Ngh...Shit...What?" Naruto grunted out as he answered the ECHO, not even bothering to open his eyes.

_"Where the hell are you? I was expecting to hear from you a while ago."_ The caller responded, having used a synthesizer to disguise their voice for security measures. _"Anyways, it doesn't matter. They've already reached Pandora."_

"...What?" Naruto growled out quietly as he slowly sat forward while his eyes snapped open, unknowingly waking Maya up. "What the fuck do you mean by that?"

_"Just what I said. They. Are. Here."_ The person reiterated more firmly. Naruto cursed under his breath, only to grit his teeth and bite back a groan of pain after accidentally knocking his right hand against the door. _"You alright over there?"_

"Y-Yeah...Ngh...Just a little banged up, nothing too bad. I'll be fine." Naruto responded, before sighing heavily. "Are they still in orbit or have they already started landing?"

_"Still in orbit, but I think they've been sending out a few landing parties of shocktroopers. I'll send you the data I managed to come across."_ Came the answer, the person pausing for a moment as if investigating something before speaking up again. _"Look, I don't know how much longer I can stay here. Hell, I don't know if I'll live to see the end of the day. If I'm still alive and you come looking for me, you know where to find me."_

"Yeah. Good luck up there." Naruto answered before both he and the other person broke the connection. Heaving another sigh, Naruto ran a hand over his face before noticing that Maya's breathing wasn't the same. Leaning back in the seat, Naruto leaned his head back and put his arm back around Maya. "How much did you hear?"

"...Only what you were saying." Maya admitted tiredly, yet timidly as she slowly sat up, brushing her hair back with one hand as she avoided eye contact for a moment before looking up at him. "Naruto? Who's here?"

"...Nothing you need to concern yourself with just yet." Naruto answered quietly, yet with a reassuring tone as he reached over with his left hand and opened the door before climbing out. Spotting Reina and Timberwolf, Naruto raised his left hand and waved lazily in greeting, noticing how the two were still unloading some of the replacement parts they had brought. Following after Naruto, Maya kept her voice low so as not to be over-heard.

"Don't you start with that shit, Naruto." Maya hissed, stepping in front of Naruto and staring up at him. "I'm your damn partner. Partners _trust_ each other. I trust _you_...so why don't you trust _me_?"

"Maya, it's not that I don't trust you. It's..." Naruto paused for a moment as he broke eye contact, rubbing the back of his neck with his left hand. "It's complicated, okay?"

"Complicated, huh?" Maya questioned rhetorically while attempting to sound as if it didn't affect her, but Naruto could tell by the look in her eyes and the slight waivering in her voice that she was hurt by his response. Turning away, Maya crossed her arms across her middle and walked over to the fire to stay warm, idly wishing she had brought a jacket with her since the thermo-bands built into her outfit weren't doing much against the wind chill.

"Maya..." Naruto called out to her weakly, only to trail off when she ignored him. Sighing heavily, Naruto rubbed the back of his neck again before picking up his body armor, mask, goggles, gloves, and weapons. Cradling his belongings under his right arm, Naruto walked back to the truck and tossed his stuff onto the seat before climbing inside with a bit of difficulty, wincing due to his still healing injuries. "Good job, idiot...You just pissed off the one person that just might have actually wanted to be your friend..."

Slouching in the seat for a minute, Naruto closed his eyes and leaned his head back, only to sit back up and glance around at the others. Reina and Timberwolf were still preoccupied with unloading the tow-truck and Maya had her back to his general direction. Figuring that the coast was all clear for the moment, Naruto reached down under the passenger seat with his left hand and retrieved a metal container mag-locked to the underside of the bench. Setting it in his lap, Naruto closed the truck door before withdrawing a key from a pocket and unlocking the metal 'cigar-box'. Opening it up, the lilac glow of Eridium ore shined faintly from within. Taking one of the smaller pieces, Naruto held it in his left hand before locking the box back up and placing it back under the chair.

"I can't believe I have to resort to _this_ again...but I'm sick of this damn broken hand." Naruto grumbled under his breath as he stared at the small glowing rock sitting in his palm before glancing out through the armor slats one last time. No one was paying attention. Without waiting any longer, Naruto tenderly removed the splint on his right hand before placing the Eridium pebble in said appendage, holding his left hand over it and closing his eyes. A moment of concentration was all he needed before the Eridium took hold and began to shrink, sinking into his flesh. As its amethyst glow transferred to Naruto's flesh, his broken bones began to mend themselves and his flesh began to stitch back together, but it wasn't by much.

Sighing heavily with slight relief as the process came to an end, Naruto looked down at his right hand and slowly curled his fingers, wincing slightly due to the lingering soreness, but his hand was otherwise healed. Unlike Lilith, Naruto had been cautious and careful, borderlining paranoid, when it came to Eridium. Whereas Lilith used it as a power-booster and experimented with it, Naruto barely ever used it and even when he did, he didn't use much. Thus, Naruto wasn't bound to it like the red-haired Siren was now. He was still trying to find a way to help her out, but it wasn't exactly bearing results.

_'I still hate using that shit...'_ Naruto thought to himself as he curled and uncurled his fingers, trying to work out the stiffness in his hand from being stuck in a splint for the past few days. As he pulled his gloves back on, Naruto's mind wandered back towards Maya, making him pause for a moment and look back out through the slat-covered window. He wanted to tell her everything, to reveal all of his faults and secrets to her, but...he was too afraid. He was afraid of losing her like he had Sarah. He was afraid of losing the catalyst that had reignited the spark of Life within him.

_'I'll tell her when we get back to Sanctuary since there's no need to go to Liar's Berg now.'_ Naruto decided while putting his body armor back on and putting his mask on, leaning back in the seat afterwards as he hung his goggles around his neck. Idly playing with his braid, Naruto looked down at it while twisting it around his finger. A small smile formed, remembering when he first met Sarah and how she had said it was 'cute', even though it had only been a few inches long at the time. After losing her, though, Naruto had let it grow out and had been doing so for the past decade, both his and Sarah's engagement rings set at the end of his braid. Glancing at the glove box and recalling Maya's words the 'day' before, Naruto wondered if it was truly time to...move on, to let someone else into his life.

_'But I feel that if I do, I'll forget about her...I don't want that.'_ Naruto countered in his mind, only to lean forward and rest his elbows on his knees, his forehead resting on the smooth metal dashboard as he stared down at the floor. If he did, it would take time and a conscious effort on his part. Could he actually do it? Could he actually let go of Sarah and move on with his life?

The sound of the hood being popped open snapped him out of his thoughts, making him look up just as Timberwolf lifted the large metal panel to gain access to the engine. Sighing, Naruto opened the door back up and stepped out of the truck while grabbing his things. Sliding the unique custom-made sheaths to his swords through the loops of fabric on the back of his waist-band, Naruto grabbed the waist-cloak and clipped the metal rings to his belt loops one-by-one before grabbing his knives and slipping the blades into the built-in sheaths on the sides of his pants. Picking up his TMPs, he holstered them behind his waist and reattached his storage devices to his armor, the lights on the objects flickering back to life as they were turned back on.

Comforted by the familiar weight of his equipment, Naruto casually walked around to the back of the truck after shutting the door. Dropping the tail gate, Naruto stared at the two massive war machines lying in the bed of his truck, their eyes dark and hulking frames motionless. Reaching over, Naruto easily undid the straps keeping them pinned to the truck bed, only to reach under the chins of either hyena-machine and reactivate them. A few moments later, their eyes gradually shined brighter until they were fully active once more.

"Come on. Get down." Naruto muttered while stepping aside, the Hyena Brothers clambering to their armored paws and climbing out of the truck. As he shut the tail gate, Naruto glanced over at Maya out of the corner of his eye, noticing that she was shivering slightly despite being next to the fire. He could tell she wanted nothing to do with him at the moment as she just stared at the fire, her knees drawn up to her chest and arms wrapped around her legs.

_'Yeah, you really screwed up this time...'_ Naruto weakly scolded himself as he leaned forward against the tail gate for a moment. From her spot, Maya was trying her best not to look at him, to keep her mouth shut. A part of her wanted to beat the shit out of him for being such a secretive asshole, but the other part of her wanted to apologize for being a bitch in return. He had his reasons for being like he was, there was no denying that. Honestly, she was surprised he hadn't simply snapped after what he had gone through.

That was when she felt a blanket draped around her shoulders...

"..." Looking up, Maya saw only Naruto's back as he walked away, whistling for Spaz and Taz to follow him. She frowned slightly, watching him leave the grotto of rock and ice and step out into the ivory haze of chilling snow and snapping winds, his two automatons flanking him on either side. As much as she didn't want to go out into the cold, Maya was worried for him and desperately wanted to follow after him, but her more stubborn and defiant side held her back. Thus, she just pulled the blanket tighter around her and spaced out once more...

**xXx**

"Stay alert, boys. Watch my back." Naruto urged as they neared a ridge, his eyes hidden by his goggles and head shrouded by his hood. Crouching down behind a large stone, Naruto held his hand over the storage unit on his left side, its content menu appearing in his left eye for a split second before it disappeared, his selection digistructing into existence in his right hand. Holding the black monocular to his eye, Naruto peered down at the grouping of buildings set at the bottom of the steep icy slope, which was only a couple miles away from where the others were currently at as they repaired his truck.

"That's unusual." Naruto mused to himself, spotting a few dead bandits lying around the area. It wasn't every day someone found a 'haven' that had already been cleared out of bandits. The only ones that usually cleared out areas like that were Vault Hunters and thanks to Jack, there were only two 'teams' of them. Seeing movement off to the far side of the cluster of industrial structures, Naruto turned his gaze on it and zoomed in. Immediately, he bit back a curse upon spotting a Praetorian, painted a dark midnight blue with black trim while a dull grey stylized double-headed eagle adorned the hood of the vehicle.

Owned by a private military force calling themselves the Guardsmen, the Praetorian was an APC that was based off of the Crimson Lance's Lancer APC, only it hada turret centered on top of it, had heavier armor, and a greater carrying capacity of eight, including the driver and gunner. The turret bore a pair of twin-linked heavy machine guns on either side of the armor-covered turret with armor-piercing anti-tank ammunition, standard-issue, while a smoke grenade launcher was set on either corner in the back. The vehicle's body was more box-ish than a Lancer and made to withstand _more_ punishment than his own truck. Praetorian engines didn't even run on fuel. All in all, just one of the vehicles was worth at least twenty of his own truck.

"Shit, shit, shit..." Naruto chanted with annoyance, searching for the owners of said Praetorian. The first one he spotted was a basic Guardsmen footsoldier, a Fighter, dressed in their usual attire; dark and light grey camouflage jumpsuit with the leggings tucked into black knee-high combat boots with black kevlar-like guards strapped over them with a dark midnight blue plate of metal attached to it, a black tactical vest strapped over their torso with dark midnight blue armor plating covering their chest and abdomen, bands of black material strapped to their biceps with dark midnight blue metal covering their upper arms, black elbow-length fingerless glove-like gauntlets strapped down to their hands and forearms, and lightly armored helmets on their heads bearing a shell of dark midnight blue metal with a similarly made filtration mask set over their mouths and nose while their eyes were protected by twin black lenses. Judging from the grey camouflage Dahl SMG grasped in the Fighter's hands and the grey camouflage Dahl Anaconda holstered at his right hip, the Guardsmen had most likely paired up with Dahl.

Tagging another five Fighters as they wandered around the area in search of any bandits that might have taken to hiding, Naruto spotted two more units of different classifications and was starting to seriously wish he was on another planet. One was a Juggernaut and were justly named. Juggernauts were clad in heavy pitch black armor that covered their bodies from head to toe with a great number of mechanics added into the armor to assist in moving. They had an ankle-length cloak of dark midnight blue fabric hanging from their waist with a series of large pouches attached to it, two menacingly glowing red helm-lenses that peered out from the sunken-in sockets of their armored head coverings, and they almost always carried a minigun and a large number of grenades.

The other was a Rogue, special soldiers trained in the arts of sniping, assassination, torture and interrogation, scouting, infiltration, sabotage, deception, and a few more. They were a modern-day ninja, in Naruto's opinion. Like normal, this one was clad in grey camouflage pants tucked into black knee-high combat boots, a black long-sleeve turtleneck top, black gloves on his hands, a black apparatus strapped over his head that had three scope-like lenses jutting out a couple inches from his, and a baggy black hooded cloak over everything. Apart from the sniper rifle in his hands, Naruto couldn't see any other weapons, but he knew for damn sure that they had throwing knives, explosives, poisons, smoke grenades, and a variety of other things hidden all over their bodies.

"Son of a bitch...Six Fighters, a Rogue, _and_ a Juggernaut?!" Naruto hissed under his breath, lowering the monocular as he sunk down behind the stone to keep hidden. "Fuck, man. I want that damn Praetorian, but this is ridiculous!"

_'If I'm going to hit them, I need to hit them fast.'_ Naruto thought to himself, taking a deep breath before his mind started going through different scenarious, losing himself in his strategies. _'The first kill will have to be that Rogue; if he slips away, I'm a dead man even if I somehow take out the Juggernaut. The Fighters are easy kills. Second target is that Juggernaut, but how to kill him...Minigun, grenades, heavy armor...'_

"Normally, I'd choose a Corrosive grenade, but I don't think it'll eat through his armor fast enough and I don't have any on me. Not only that, but the sun will be rising in a few hours." Naruto muttered to himself absently, tapping his fingers on his thigh. Suddenly, he stopped and a sadistic smirk slowly formed on his face beneath his mask. "Alright, boys. Here's the plan..."

**xXx**

"How long will it take to repair the truck?" Maya inquired, the blanket still wrapped around her body, as she walked up to Reina as the red head finished lifting the modified Technical truck off the ground with four bottle-jacks.

"Well, the driver side armor paneling is compromised, but nothing critical. Most of the damage can be fixed here, but the suspension will have to be repaired in a garage." Reina responded while stepping back and staring at the vehicle, rubbing the back of her neck in thought. "The guns and turret will be easy for us to repair, the wheels can be easily replaced along with the brake drums, and the leaks can be patched. I don't know about it being fully repaired, but we can at least fix it up so that its drivable. All in all, it'll be about another thirty-six hours, tops."

"That long?" Maya grumbled quietly, really wanting to take a hot shower and maybe have a few drinks before sleeping in a _real_ bed. She may not act like it, but the Siren still liked having a few luxuries available to her. Hearing the taller woman's complaint, Reina couldn't help laughing.

"Trust me. Ya'll be experiencing more of this so long as you're with Naruto." Reina remarked with a grin, making Maya groan and bow her head in defeat. "He doesn't really like being around other people and some how keeps himself busy with bounties and other odd-jobs while he's out in the wild."

"So I've been told..." Maya muttered before shivering slightly as a cold breeze, pulling the blanket around herself all the tighter in an effort to stay comfortable. "Speaking of Naruto, do you know where he went?"

"Nope, sorry." The female mechanic responded while walking over to Timberwolf and peering into the engine housing, grimacing slightly before reaching in and doing something Maya couldn't see. Satisfied, Reina retrieved her hand and wiped the oil and grease off with a rag before continuing her response. "Knowing him, though, he's probably either looking for firewood, getting into trouble, or scouting the area."

"Alright. Thanks." Maya responded before making her way back towards the camp fire, adding a few more branches of dead wood to it. Now that she thought about it, they were getting kind of low on wood. Sitting down on the cot that Naruto had been lying on for the first few standard days of their time in the cave, Maya's train of thought instantly shifted over to the blonde. Maybe she should have been a bit more patient with him earlier. Sure, he had started to open up to her, if only slightly, but that didn't mean he would tell her _everything_.

_'It also doesn't mean that he's actually attracted to me, either...'_ She thought synically with a slight frown, suddenly wondering where that thought had come from. Granted, he was more appealing in appearance than that idiot Axton, but...his manners and personality were, by far, the most hideous she had ever encountered. Almost quite literally, they were second only to the abundance of psychos scattered all throughout the planet. At least with Naruto, there was only just one of him.

Sighing and shoving those thoughts aside, Maya let out a low groan of boredom, worry, and mild annoyance as she leaned to the side and essentially fell over, half-way lying on the cot with her head resting on the surprisingly comfortable pillow. Idly wondering where Naruto had gone off to, Maya started to doze off a little...

**xXx**

Silently, Naruto snuck through the group of reinforced concrete buildings that had once been a bunker or something in the past. Waiting in the shadows of an open door, Naruto drew a knife with his right hand, holding it in a reverse grip as a Fighter, unaware of his presence, drew closer. Placing his left hand over the man's mouth to keep him from alerting the others, he quickly drove his knife into the man's neck, killing him almost instantly while dragging him into the room. Stashing him in one of the back rooms, Naruto yanked his knife free and wiped the blood off of it by using the dead soldier's jumpsuit, sheathing it a moment later. Creeping back over to the door way, Naruto kicked some unstained snow over the blood-stained ivory powder at the front of the door, glancing all around as he did.

_'Okay, that makes three. They're going to start getting suspicious pretty soon with their men suddenly disappearing.'_ Naruto noted in his mind, practically whispering to himself in his own mind due to him concentrating so hard on staying hidden as much as physically possible. If only he had one of those cloaking device things like that weirdo Zero had...

Spotting two Fighters a little further down the road, Naruto froze for a split second before sinking deeper into the shadows, watching them. He couldn't hear them, but they seemed a bit nervous, probably due to the eerie silence of the cold night and the sudden lack of communication from three comrades already. Thanks to the HUD wirelessly linked with his neural network, Naruto knew that the two were out of sight of any other soldier. Reaching down, Naruto picked up a small pebble before throwing it as hard as he could, just barely making it past them. Turning with a slight start as the rock hit the ground a few meters away, both Fighters turned and started to cautiously approach the source of the noise.

_'Idiots.'_ Naruto mumbled in his mind as he drew his swords in reverse grips, surging forward as fast as he could. Just as the two soldiers were taking their seventh step, Naruto had already closed the fifty meter gap between them, his eyes cold and apathetic as his blades caught the pale light of the moon. Swiftly passing between them as he swung his blades, Naruto kept running and sheathed his swords, dropping into a slide and slipping through a gap under a make-shift 'fence' of sheet metal. As he disappeared once more, the heads of both soldiers fell from their shoulders and hit the ground, their bodies following shortly after and spilling their crimson life-essence all over the pure, untainted snow.

Sliding for a few feet after slipping through the foot-tall space under the poorly-made fence, Naruto's right foot made contact with a metal sign post while his left fist pushed off the ground. Kicking off at the same time, Naruto managed to give himself just enough of a boost that he was able to grab onto the ledge of a balcony on the second floor of a building, quickly hauling himself up just moments before a Fighter turned onto the same street. Taking a moment to catch his breath, Naruto cautiously peered out and watched as the Guardsman came to a stop directly below him.

"..." Glancing around nervously, the Guardsman took his face-mask off and stashed it in a pocket before fishing out a pack of cigarettes. Lighting one up, the man took a long drag off of it, held it in for a moment, and then slowly let it out, a look of relief forming on his face. "That hit the spot...Urk!"

"Yes, it did..." Naruto whispered quietly, taking the man's cigarette from his hand while wrenching his knife free from the back of his neck, letting him collapse in a boneless heap. Wiping the blade free of blood on the man's uniform, Naruto sheathed the knife and pulled his mask down, inhaling a lungful of acrid smoke as he calmly walked into a nearby alley, mentally reminding himself that he still had a Rogue and a Juggernaut to deal with. He could already hear the distant _whirring_ sound of the titan's minigun revving up, shortly followed by the slow and heavy foot falls of the behemoth. Normally, he might play around with the man for a moment, but the Rogue was still out there. If he wasn't careful, he'd be learning how to breathe through a hole in his forehead...

Taking one last drag, Naruto dropped the cigarette and stomped it out, exhaling before pulling his mask back up over his mouth and nose. Turning and walking in the opposite direction of the Juggernaut, Naruto had just turned the corner when he spotted the almost unnoticable glint of moonlight reflecting off a scope from the roof of a three-story building, his eyes widening with shock before he quickly jumped back into the alley, a bullet striking the stone wall just behind where his head had been a split second ago. Cursing his luck, Naruto quickly ran back out of the alley and slid behind the cover of a building directly across the street.

"Shit!" Naruto hissed, spotting the Juggernaut aiming his minigun down the alley and directly at him. Kicking down a door in front of him, Naruto barely made it inside before a volley of bullets ripped through the air behind him. Making his way for the stairs, Naruto ran up to the second floor and ran at a window, jumping at the last second. Crashing through it and the window directly across from it on the adjacent building, Naruto landed on his feet, only to lose his balance for a moment, prompting him to drop into a shoulder roll and hop right back to his feet. He hated dealing with 'Heavies' and snipers, especially when they're paired together.

_THOOM-THOOM-THOOM-THOOM!_

_BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!_

"You're fucking late!" Naruto snarled as he ran, making his way up to the third floor of the building, cursing his automatons for their poor sense of timing. Then again, he did give them orders to wait until they heard the sound of the Juggernaut's minigun before peppering the bastard with grenades through the use of guerilla tactics. Moving towards a window, Naruto kicked it to break the glass before using a knife to clear away any remaining glass along the edges. Glancing up above him and seeing the roof ledge just a meter above the window sill, Naruto retrieved a smoke grenade from a pocket on the side of his pant leg, only to set it and toss it up. Hissing out smoke as it spun around in place from the pressurized contents oozing out of it, Naruto gave it a couple seconds before jumping out of the window and planting his feet on the wall directly across from him, only to kick off while twisting his body, grabbing onto the ledge at the last second. Hauling himself up onto the roof, Naruto didn't waste a second and ran for the nearest point of cover, barely avoiding having his head shot off as another bullet ricocheted off an air conditioner unit.

"These fuckers are really starting to piss me off..." Naruto growled under his breath, unaware of the fact his 'Warlock' markings were starting to glow a faint red under his clothing nor the fact his eyes were starting to bleed into crimson. Drawing both of his TMPs, Naruto glanced at the spot where the bullet struck the air conditioner, quickly determining the Rogue's general location; three buildings South, one to the East, fourth floor. Taking a deep breath to ready himself, Naruto quickly ran out from cover, raising his left pistol and firing a brief volley at the sniper to buy him a couple moments.

"Tch...Wily bastard." The Rogue growled under his breath, forced to duck back behind the wall as the bullets rang out all around him, striking off of metal and burying themselves in concrete. Quickly slipping back out and taking aim, he unconciously compensated for the lack of line of sight on the target, only to frown slightly behind his mask. "Where did you go?"

For several moments, there was no sign of the man. The Juggernaut was still being harrassed further away out to the North-West by two unknown targets. Deciding it was no longer safe to stay where he was, the Rogue stood and turned around to leave, only to freeze. Standing before him was the target, a Vladov TMP aimed directly at the Rogue's face. Panting heavily, yet silently, Naruto narrowed his eyes at the man from behind his goggles.

"How did you-"

_BANG!_

"...None of your business, asshole..." Naruto growled before kicking the body over the balcony railing, watching the corpse tumbled in free-fall for a few moments before hitting the ground with a sickening _crunch_. In truth, not even Naruto knew how he did it. Somehow, everything around him seemed to slow down to a crawl, almost to the point of not even moving, while he himself continued to move at 'normal' speed. Whatever it was, though, it left him exhausted. Leaning back against the wall for a moment, Naruto quickly got his second wind before reaching under his 'skirt' and withdrawing a barb-tipped spike, only to suddenly drive it into the wall beside him and leap off the balcony, the thin cable screeching as he repelled down to the ground. Touching down, Naruto pressed the release switch on his belt buckle, resulting in the cable breaking off.

Drawing his other TMP, Naruto stalked down the streets towards the Juggernaut's location. It was only a few moments before he came to the sight of the heavily armored giant being backed up into a building, trying to limit where his enemies could attack him from and cancel out the threat of their grenade launchers at the same time. Whistling sharply for only a second, Naruto stalked towards the building, which was only a single floor home, while Spaz and Taz backed off. Coming to a stop at the corner of the building, Naruto raised his guns to shoulder height and took another deep breath, only to suddenly turn into the open doorway and take aim, unleashing bursts of gun fire from either gun in sequence as he calmly strafed to the right.

_'Left, Right, Left, Right...'_ Naruto mentally commanded, remaining entirely focused on making the heavily armored soldier flinch continuously to keep him from utilizing his minigun; at such a close range, it would be devastating. Coming within only a few feet of the Juggernaut, Naruto's pistols clicked empty, making him curse and drop the guns before quickly drawing both of his knives and sprinting forward. Lunging at the man before he could recover, Naruto stabbed both blades into the incredibly narrow gap in the thick metal plates between the collar of his body armor and his helmet. Slicing through cables and mechanics, his knives finally met flesh, severing both his jugular vein and carotid artery at the same time while cutting a small gash into either side of his trachea. Bracing his foot against the Juggernaut's chest, Naruto kicked off the man's chest and ripped his knives from the man's throat, landing a bit awkwardly in the cramped space as the monstrous heavy weapon specialist clutched at his throat, having dropped his minigun as he fumbled around with the armor around his neck, unable to apply pressure to the wound in a feeble attempt to prolong his life.

"That's what you get for shooting at me, mother-fucker..." Naruto snarled savagely while sheathing his knives and retrieving his empty pistols, only to turn around and leave the building, heading straight for the Praetorian he had spotted earlier. A tiny notice popped up in his left eye and then another in his right, alerting him to the low battery life of the Hyena Brothers. Biting back another curse, Naruto whistled for the machines and thrust his hand out front of him, pointing his right index and middle finger at the Praetorian further up ahead. Without hesitation, all three of them ran for the truck...

**xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**


End file.
